By KAY POWELL
Sharecroppers and tenant farmers were Boyzie Daniels' neighbors in the 1940s. The Baptist minister was determined to help his Walton County neighbors secure the right to vote.
Alone, registering black people to vote in April 1946 was enough to place him in the county's history. Shortly thereafter, though, he became part of the county's most notorious moment in history: the Moore's Ford Bridge lynchings of July 25, 1946.
His role is chronicled in "Fire in a Canebrake: the Last Mass Lynching in America," Laura Wexler's book about the mob killings of two black couples that drew international attention and steeled President Harry Truman's resolve to do something about civil rights.
The funeral for Boyzie Z. Daniels, 91, who died of prostate cancer at his Monroe residence Saturday, is noon today at Lighthouse World Outreach Center. Jackson Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
The Rev. Daniels was living on land owned by his in-laws when he attended the Walton County Civic League organizational meeting in April 1946. He committed to contacting every black man and woman in his Blasingame district eligible to vote to encourage them to register.
"That is one reason my Daddy was able to take a chance. We were not sharecroppers," said his daughter Bettye Griggs of Decatur. "He was very stout-hearted, but he was very respected by white people."
The Rev. Daniels went farm to farm to persuade his neighbors to register to vote before the July 17, 1946, primary election. "He would talk to people at church and whenever he had a chance around town," Ms. Griggs said.
Out of 389 black people in his district, he could convince only 12 to register, according to Ms. Wexler's book.
As for the lynchings, in July 1946, the Rev. Daniels had gone to town to buy his wife a pressure cooker, his daughter said. He saw Roger Malcom, a black tenant farmer, outside the jail and shook his hand. With Mr. Malcom were his common-law wife, Dorothy Dorsey, and George and Mae Murray Dorsey.
"He was the last black to see them alive," Ms. Griggs said of her father.
Mr. Malcom had been jailed for stabbing his boss, who was white. He was bailed out of jail by another white man whom the two couples thought was driving them home. Their journey ended at Moore's Ford Bridge over the Apalachee River, where a mob of white men stopped the car and murdered the four black men and women.
The Rev. Daniels was called to testify before the grand jury investigating the massacre and was repeatedly interviewed by the FBI, Ms. Griggs said. The investigation remains open.
By the mid-1950s, the Rev. Daniels had bought 17 acres to become one of only 47 black landowners in the county at the time, his daughter said. He preached on Sundays for 61 years, drove a school bus, was a carpenter and worked his farm.
He planted 10 acres of vegetables and was on his tractor tending his garden until a few months ago, said another daughter, Eleanor Scott of Stone Mountain. "He allowed anyone to pick veggies," she said. "He's been feeding people for years out of his garden."
"He did everything up till four months ago," Ms. Griggs said. "He was still driving his '99 Cadillac that he paid for cash."
For his lifelong service to Monroe and Walton County, the Rev. Daniels had been presented an Unsung Heroes award by the Walton Tribune. Neither that award nor being in a book impressed him all that much, Ms. Griggs said.
"He was never too excited about anything that honored him," she said.
Survivors other than his two daughters include his wife, Mattie Lene Daniels; a son, Charles Edward Daniels of Monroe; two stepdaughters, Gloria Penn and Marilyn Thomas, both of Decatur; 13 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
© 2007 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on July 12, 2007
By KAY POWELL
Sharecroppers and tenant farmers were Boyzie Daniels' neighbors in the 1940s. The Baptist minister was determined to help his Walton County neighbors secure the right to vote.
Alone, registering black people to vote in April 1946 was enough to place him in the county's history. Shortly thereafter, though, he became part of the county's most notorious moment in history: the Moore's Ford Bridge lynchings of July 25, 1946.
His role is chronicled in "Fire in a Canebrake: the Last Mass Lynching in America," Laura Wexler's book about the mob killings of two black couples that drew international attention and steeled President Harry Truman's resolve to do something about civil rights.
The funeral for Boyzie Z. Daniels, 91, who died of prostate cancer at his Monroe residence Saturday, is noon today at Lighthouse World Outreach Center. Jackson Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
The Rev. Daniels was living on land owned by his in-laws when he attended the Walton County Civic League organizational meeting in April 1946. He committed to contacting every black man and woman in his Blasingame district eligible to vote to encourage them to register.
"That is one reason my Daddy was able to take a chance. We were not sharecroppers," said his daughter Bettye Griggs of Decatur. "He was very stout-hearted, but he was very respected by white people."
The Rev. Daniels went farm to farm to persuade his neighbors to register to vote before the July 17, 1946, primary election. "He would talk to people at church and whenever he had a chance around town," Ms. Griggs said.
Out of 389 black people in his district, he could convince only 12 to register, according to Ms. Wexler's book.
As for the lynchings, in July 1946, the Rev. Daniels had gone to town to buy his wife a pressure cooker, his daughter said. He saw Roger Malcom, a black tenant farmer, outside the jail and shook his hand. With Mr. Malcom were his common-law wife, Dorothy Dorsey, and George and Mae Murray Dorsey.
"He was the last black to see them alive," Ms. Griggs said of her father.
Mr. Malcom had been jailed for stabbing his boss, who was white. He was bailed out of jail by another white man whom the two couples thought was driving them home. Their journey ended at Moore's Ford Bridge over the Apalachee River, where a mob of white men stopped the car and murdered the four black men and women.
The Rev. Daniels was called to testify before the grand jury investigating the massacre and was repeatedly interviewed by the FBI, Ms. Griggs said. The investigation remains open.
By the mid-1950s, the Rev. Daniels had bought 17 acres to become one of only 47 black landowners in the county at the time, his daughter said. He preached on Sundays for 61 years, drove a school bus, was a carpenter and worked his farm.
He planted 10 acres of vegetables and was on his tractor tending his garden until a few months ago, said another daughter, Eleanor Scott of Stone Mountain. "He allowed anyone to pick veggies," she said. "He's been feeding people for years out of his garden."
"He did everything up till four months ago," Ms. Griggs said. "He was still driving his '99 Cadillac that he paid for cash."
For his lifelong service to Monroe and Walton County, the Rev. Daniels had been presented an Unsung Heroes award by the Walton Tribune. Neither that award nor being in a book impressed him all that much, Ms. Griggs said.
"He was never too excited about anything that honored him," she said.
Survivors other than his two daughters include his wife, Mattie Lene Daniels; a son, Charles Edward Daniels of Monroe; two stepdaughters, Gloria Penn and Marilyn Thomas, both of Decatur; 13 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
© 2007 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on July 12, 2007
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